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After having lost an appeal on my state aid while my Social Security
Disability claim was being processed, the Legal Aid attorney told me
she would review the judge's findings and decide if she would appeal.
When I asked her what I should do about money in the meantime she
said, given the judge's finding that I was too healthy to get the
state stipend, maybe I should see if I could return to my old job.
On the whole, I was worse off than when I had left work the previous
September due to my health. While I had actually gained a handful of
pounds in the recent months, it was little compared to the amount of
weight I had lost during my hospital stay the previous fall and the
additional weight loss when trying out the allergy free diet
recommended to me by the clinical ecologist's dietician. At this
point I was now 'only'
forty pounds under my ideal weight. On the other hand, the joint
pains which had plagued me during my years working at the big grocery
store had been resolved since I had been avoiding corn, a now
known allergy for me.
So I went to the big grocery store and caught the manger as he was
entering the office. He was surprised to see me and I told him I was
ready to come back to work. He didn't think that would be possible
as there was no longer a place for me. And thus I truly knew I no
longer had a job. When I told my friend Jeff about this later
that day, he pointed out that I could then go and file for
unemployment benefits instead. So I decided I might as well try that
as I waited to hear from the Legal Aid attorney.
I went to the unemployment office and eventually filled out the
paperwork and the following week was told my request had been denied
as the big grocery store had reported back to them that I was still
working there. This was news to me and I went back to the
grocery store to confirm it, but the manager wouldn't see me and so I
went to the back room where the schedule was kept and, sure
enough, my name wasn't on it. I went back
the unemployment office and told the clerk that, no, I wasn't
still employed there and that when I had last talked to the manager
he had told me that 'there was no place for me' there. The clerk
ultimately didn't care but told me how to file for an appeal hearing
and let me know I could contact Legal Aid if I couldn't afford an
attorney of my own.
Returning home, I called back the Legal Aid answering machine and let
them know of the denial. A day later I got a call back from another
attorney there who wanted to meet with me about it. At his office I
told him the facts and he agreed it was a new one on him, while
businesses often come up with reasons why a terminated employee
shouldn't get unemployment benefits, claiming the person was still
working there when they weren't was a novel approach. He said he
would look into it and let me know.
In the meantime I received a letter from Social Security denying my
disability coverage. The detailed letter explained that it was due
to there not being enough evidence that I was suffering from a health
problem and that if I wanted to appeal, I could request a hearing.
And if I couldn't afford an attorney of my own... I
decided I would ask the Legal Aid attorney handling the state aid
stipend about it when she eventually called me back.
She did a few days later and told me that, in their opinion I was
now healthy enough to return to work and so they wouldn't be
filing an appeal on the state aid decision. Clearly, if that was their
opinion, then there was no point in bringing up the Social Security
denial. Two days later I got a call from the Legal Aid attorney
handling the unemployment denial and he told me that they wouldn't be
filing an appeal of the unemployment decision due to the fact that I
wasn't healthy enough to work. Before he could hang-up I had the
wherewithal to interject and let him know that I had just been told
that his office had found me to be healthy enough to work just two
days earlier. He was startled and asked who had told me that, I gave
him the name of the first Legal Aid attorney and he said he'd talk to
her and see what was up.
Still, given his call and the fact that I personally agreed with his
finding, I decided to complete the Social Security Disability appeal
paperwork on my own, requesting a hearing and mailing it off.
I received another call from the Legal Aid office the very next day,
this time it was someone in charge and he explained to me that each
section of the Legal Aid office was responsible to make their own
judgment as to who was healthy or not healthy enough to work. As
each department had made their judgment based on their own
review criteria, there was no contradiction in one part denying
me help because I was too healthy for aid while another part denied
me help because I wasn't healthy enough to work. When I pointed out
the obvious, that there was a contradiction, he noted
that part of the determination process included their current
workload and budget constraints and with those additional factors in
mind, there had been no
contradiction.
And that was the end of my Legal Aid help.
Wondering what I was going to do for money until the Social Security
office scheduled my hearing, and watching my overdraft line of credit
being quickly exhausted by two months of COBRA health insurance
payments and resulting fees, I decided to file an appeal of my
unemployment insurance denial on my own, as well. As I was appealing
the statement that I did have a job when I didn't, not based
on my fitness, I decided there was no contradiction in it for me.
I quickly received a letter back with the Unemployment hearing date &
time and wondered if I should go to the store and physically rip the
work schedule off the back room wall to present at the hearing to
prove my name wasn't on it. I thought that, while
justified, it would be a step too far and I would rely on
my sworn testimony that I didn't have a job with the big grocery
store and would let them say what they were going to say once they
were sworn in.
When the hearing day came, I arrived at the unemployment office and
went up stairs to my scheduled hearing room. I waited outside until
called in. The judge in the room asked me where the representative
of the grocery store was. I told her I didn't know. So we waited
for two thirds of the hearing time for him to show up and, as he
never did, the judge took my sworn testimony that I didn't have a job
with the company and hadn't worked there since the Fall of Nineteen
Eighty-Seven. That was all she asked of me, not about my health,
and told me that companies often automatically deny unemployment
claims in the hopes that it just wouldn't be appealed and thus win by
default. But as the company representative hadn't bothered with the
hearing, then I would
likely win by default and I should receive a letter confirming
it by the following week.
I did and it did.
I could finally pay-off my overdraft line of credit!
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